


red ties

by Lee_Mix



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 21:04:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5430764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lee_Mix/pseuds/Lee_Mix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ladybug notices how long Chat Noir’s hair is getting. Adrien notices Marinette’s hair has been cut short. A red ribbon ties all the coincidences together in a nice little bow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	red ties

“Are you growing your hair out?”

The question almost catches him off-guard. After setting the butterfly free from its taint of corruption and allowing it to catch the light of the twilight sun, Chat Noir pondered over her sudden question.

“Does it look bad?” He rubbed the back of his hair. It  _had_ gotten longer lately. Not for a lack of hair on his part–on the contrary, his self-grooming (even as Adrien) was impeccable. But he would be lying to say he hadn’t  _slightly_ neglected to cut his hair as of late…

“What? No, of course not.” Ladybug put her hands on her hips and sighed. “But if you’re going to keep it long, you’ll need to tie it back if you’re fighting. Otherwise, it’ll get in your face and that could put you at a disadvantage.”

Chat Noir gaped. “I’ve never tied my hair up before. Never really needed to.” He glanced over at her. “You’re not going to suggest I cut it?”

“Do you want to?”

“Well…” He sighed. “Not really. To be honest, my Lady, I’ve always wanted to grow it out. I suppose I’ve never had a chance to.” 

Well,  _Adrien_ had never had the chance to grow it out. Over a decade of forced barber visits, shaved back of the necks, of a voice telling him how he should look to “represent” the image of an Agreste. Back when that voice was in the room and not pixelated through a screen. Ironically, it was the distance from that voice that gave him  _another_ voice to listen to his own. 

Ladybug smiled at him, the type of smile that made his heart flutter, and all woes of fatherly neglect had been subdued. 

“Turn around.” 

He blinked. “…Why?”

She said nothing, only wiggling her finger for him to copy the motion. Giving in, he grinned, turning around with curiosity piqued. 

It was only when he felt delicate fingers comb through his hair, did his breath hitch in his throat. He resisted the urge to rub the back of his neck, and he was sure all the little hairs were standing at attention at her touch. He pursed his lips to prevent a soft  _purring_ sound from coming out of his mouth.

“Relax,” she said in a soft voice. “I’m only tying your hair up for you. We’ve got  a little bit of time before we blink out, right?”

“R…” He cleared his throat roughly. “Right.”

“Hm, I thought I had a… ah, wait, I know what to use.” Her voice was the only indication other than her fingers in his hair–and  _heavens above_ he was trying to ignore how  _good_ it felt–of what she was doing exactly before he felt something tie around the clump of hair that was the ponytail.

“Here,” she grinned, holding up a small compact mirror. “What do you think?”

He peered at himself, somewhat surprised. Though his bangs were still there, his hair had been pulled back into a small ponytail, barely visible poking at the middle of his neck. A small, red ribbon could be seen in a small bow holding the blond hair together, and he touched the end of the tail.

“It’s…” He rummaged through his brain to find the right word. Adrien would have been able to conjure one up on the spot, but as Chat Noir, the mere proximity and intimacy had him tongue-tied. Perhaps the cat in him captured his tongue after all. 

Then, he found the words in her smile. “Something I’ll keep from now on.” Chat Noir couldn’t stop the grin from making his cheeks ache, and he rubbed the back of his neck. “Thank you, my Lady.”

“I…” Chat Noir grew confused as she swerved on her heel, and groaned. “I-I need to go!”

“W-Wait!” He put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. “What about your hair-tie?”

“I don’t need it anymore.” Ladybug still refused to look at him, but he could hear the smile in her voice. “It’s going to be hard to put up short hair, you know?”

Any more questions that lingered in his throat had become empty air, and she disappeared into the black of night with an elegant jump into the city below. 

Chat Noir soon blinkered out into Adrien, but the red hair-tie remained to keep his hair from going wild. Plagg rested in his lap, an unguarded moment for the impish trickster, and Adrien couldn’t help but sigh. 

“Short hair, hm?” His head hung, and he laughed. “You really do everything you can to be my opposite, don’t you?”

 

* * *

 

“Whoah,  _Mari!_ That’s a bold look, even for you!”

Experimenting with one’s style wasn’t unusual for a teenager in the midst of Paris, especially within an Academy with classes specialising in design. Marinette had seen some wonderfully eccentric choices with fashion and personal image, such visual imagery captured in a moment by Alya’s “shutterbug” tendencies (the term wonderfully provided by Chloe), so her trying a new style wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for the  _environment._

But Marinette had procured the same style for as long as she could remember, so walking into the Academy with a new hairstyle, unannounced, had attracted some attention.

…  _Well, more like my face becoming more noticed than Ladybug’s for an hour. Irony at it’s finest, I suppose._

Alya circled her, a wide smile on her face. “I didn’t know you were going to be so daring with your style! And it really does suits you, too. I suppose it  _is_ a little sad you don’t wear your hair in pigtails anymore, but this is still so… well,  _you._ ”

It was a shame that her parents hadn’t exactly had the same warm reception to her new hairstyle. Her mother had almost  _fainted_ when Marinette had walked through the house with her hair chopped short, with the left side shaved and the rest of her black hair swept into neat side-bangs, and her father’s reaction was only slightly lukewarm. Whilst they  _had_ gotten used to it by morning, Marinette could understand the initial horror. 

( ** _“Fifteen-year-old girl stays out late at night, only to walk in with a small cut to her upper lip and a new haircut? Blasphemy, she’s joined a cult! Pray to your ancestors, she’ll be arrested before she’s seventeen!”_  **\- Her parent’s train of thought.)

Still, at least Alya liked it. She reached to rub the back of her neck, the odd feeling of the nape of her neck being shaved still temporarily confusing her. “You really think so?” 

“Girl, I think even  _Chloe_ will be mad that you can pull off this style.” Marinette scrunched up her nose as Alya poked the tip. “But… what brought this on? You fancied a change?”

“Something like that. I guess I–”

_“Hey, Marinette, cool haircut!”  
_

Alya turned, hand on her hip, to see who had complimented her. “Nino? I thought you were out of town for the day.”

“I was going to. My and family and I were supposed to visit my Aunt, but apparently, the bridge conductor went a little manic. Probably some of that weird stuff that’s been happening lately.”

Marinette prayed to any God that her blood remains  _in_ her face, and not to be so pale.

“But enough about that,” he pointed over at Marinette and smirked. “Marinette, what’s with the cool new cut? I swear I saw Chloe huffing about it when I saw her. Though, then again, that never really changes.” His brow rose. “You trying out for a club or something? Man, first Adrien’s experimenting with the style, now you?” He took off his cap and ran a hand through his buzzed hair. "Maybe I should consider something new, in that case."

Marinette could only focus on one part of that addition to the conversation. “Adrien?”

“Oh, yeah. You guys won't believe it, but he–”

“ _Speaking_ of the devil.” Alya pointed over Marinette's shoulder.

“Nino, why did you run off again? I was talking and you just up and left! You’ve got the attention span of a dog, I swear…” Adrien blinked, and glanced over at Marinette. “Oh, is this what everyone is talking about? Marinette is the one that got the new haircut?”

Alya peered over. “Mari? Everything alright?” She waved a hand in front of her face. “Guys, she’s completely frozen. Mari? Mari, what’s the matter?”

Whatever blood had been in her face had long abandoned it to an icy fate, as the realization set in. Whilst everyone else was utterly clueless, any coincidences before had completely set in stone. But she was still unsure. This  _had_ to be a coincidence.

Adrien had his hair pulled back. In a messy, short ponytail.  _A day_ after she had tied up Chat’s hair. It looked like he had  _slept_ on it.

But Adrien hadn’t caught on. At least, not to why she was so confused. “Erm, Marinette?” He knelt in front of her, shaking her shoulder. He then turned to face Alya and Nino. “Maybe we should take her to the infirmary?”

“I-I… oh! Sorry!” Her voice startled him, and she barely concealed the slip in her tone. “I spaced out. What were you saying before?”

“Are you sure? You’re pretty pale–”

“Aha, I’m fine, I'm fine! Just had a lot of attention from the new haircut, it’s made me a little nervous. That’s all!”

He stared at her, pursing his lips, before shrugging. “Oh. That’s understandable, I suppose.” Adrien stood back up and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “But I was actually talking about that. You decided to get a new hairstyle?”

“Oh, right.” She rubbed the back of her neck, and a small blush rose to her cheeks. “I wanted a change. Not that I hated having pigtails, but… like I said. I needed the change.” She pointed to his hair. “Are you growing your hair out?”

He paused, glancing over at her with a surprised look. They shared that silent exchange before he found it in himself to speak. Alya and Nino had taken a few steps away from the exchange, but whatever they were whispering to themselves, she and Adrien barely noticed.

“I… yeah. I suppose I wanted a change as well.” He craned his head to the right, and felt the end of his ponytail, chuckling a little. “I confess I’m not very good at tying my hair up myself, yet. I don’t even  _own_ a proper hair tie yet.” Marinette’s breath hitched in her throat.

Red. Red bow.  _Red bow._

“Mari, that looks like one of _your_ hair ribbons.”

Alya’s voice broke her through her thoughts and startled her back to the conversation.

“H-Huh?”

“Now that you say it, didn’t yours have those little black spots on it?” Nino peered around the back of Adrien’s head. “Yeah, this one does too. You said you did it because of Ladybug, and it has your signature on it. Did you lend him yours or something?”

_How did he not see my name on it? Did he sleep with it in? And… wait, I forgot that… my name is on the inside of those ribbons… Tikki usually replaces them with hers, I suppose she… forgot…_

Marinette flushed down to her neck.

_Wait. WAIT. That means that... all this time..._

_Oh… my… god…_

“Are you…”

She snapped back to reality at his hushed voice, and she felt like her body was being cradled by the sun from the look on Adrien’s face. His eyes were wider than she thought possible, his mouth hung agape, and his books had fallen to the ground. 

Whatever Alya and Nino thought of this moment, she didn’t  _care._

“I…”

_Be bold, Mari._

When she grabbed his hand, more than one pair of eyes were on her. Warm, rough to the touch, and she was sure more than one nail was broken. But she pulled him closer to her and resisted the urge to gulp.

“I think we need to talk. Can we go somewhere more private?”

_Everyone’s going to think I’m confessing to him. Come on, Marinette, social suicide at school isn’t going to be nearly as bad as…_

The slow smile that spread across… his face made her insides flutter with excitement.

“Sure thing,” he lowered his lips to her ear. “My Lady.”


End file.
